Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche slams 'clickbait' comments over Ruben Amorim criticism

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has had his say on previous comments he made about Manchester United under Ruben Amorim earlier this year

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has sought to clarify previous comments made by him about Manchester United under Ruben Amorim.

Former Everton and Burnley boss Dyche replaced ex-Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou at the City Ground on October 21. Forest were in freefall under the Australian having failed to win any of their eight games under him before owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked him just 17 minutes after their 3-0 defeat to Chelsea earlier this month.

Dyche has took charge of just two games at Forest so far - a win over Porto in the Europa League and a loss at Bournemouth last weekend. He will now be taking charge of his first home Premier League game as manager of the East Midlands club on Saturday against United (3pm kick-off).

The match comes amid previous comments made by Dyche about Amorim's formation at Old Trafford. Dyche told the Stick to Football Podcast in May that he would have won more matches than the Portuguese had he been the one to replace Erik ten Hag last November.

"He’s not going to change the way he plays. He [Ruben Amorim] better win some games – pretty quick," Dyche said. "I reckon if I went there and played my way, we’d win more games. Just 4-4-2 – give them basic rules of principles.

"We’re all going, 'Fair play' – but, he’s been there a while now so you better start bringing some wins soon."

And the 54-year-old has now clarified those comments in Thursday's pre-match press conference - claiming that they were taken out of context.

"I didn't question him as a person and I would never do that. Clickbait kills anything," he said. "I equally said I want managers to be given time and I said he should get half a season to continue what he's doing.

"I have maximum respect for all managers. I'm pretty sure his media department will have made that clear to him.

"The basics may have worked better was my suggestion and they have changed their style so fair play to him. Not necessarily their beliefs but their style.

"They are playing quicker forward and longer, a bit tighter in getting back into their shape. That's management, that's coaching.

"That doesn't mean he's changed his whole philosophy, it's adapting to what's in front of him so fair play to him. He's shown a bit of flexibility and they're getting results."

Amorim, meanwhile, has insisted that he understands Dyche's initial criticism of his United team.

"First of all, maybe it's true if we play 4-4-2," he smiled at his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "We won more games, but I always said that I have a way of playing that is going to take a while, but in the future it's going to be better. So we don't know that. Then I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and then as a pundit.

"If you are a pundit and you don't say very strong things, I don't want to watch you! I'm the same. So I can understand that it's a completely different job. I know that Sean Dyche is really smart and he knows how to play the game.

"And he also understands that one thing is when we are seeing the game and talking about the game, the other thing is to coach a team. So I understand that, I have nothing to say, I just want to win the next game."

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